15 Facts You May Not Know About ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’

There’s a running joke in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade that Indy took his nickname from the family dog. That joke has some truth to it though because as George Lucas was developing Raiders of the Lost Ark, he actually named the character after his dog, Jones (the “Indiana” was a riff on Steve McQueen character Nevada Smith). Coincidentally, the same dog was the inspiration for Chewbacca in Star Wars. Need more Raiders of the Lost Ark facts? Throw us the idol and we’ll throw you the latest episode of You Think You Know Movies!

Raiders of the Lost Ark might not have been the huge success it was if the MPAA originally had its way. In 1981, before the PG-13 rating was implemented, Raiders was originally rated R, primarily for the scene at the end of the film where Belloq’s head explodes. Knowing they needed a PG rating, but without the money to completely reshoot the ending, Steven Spielberg added some fire effects in post-production that obscured the graphic nature of the exploding head. Oddly, the MPAA seemed completely fine with Toht’s face melting off his skull just seconds later.

“You Think You Know Movies?” is a ScreenCrush original series that dives deep into the cinematic worlds of your favorite movies and freeze frames a few tidbits you might not have known. We’ve already tackled Star Wars, The Avengers and Spider-Man, but now, it’s time to head obtain some rare antiquities with our latest video!

Watch more installments of ‘You Think You Know Movies?’ below and let us know what movies we should cover next.